Guild Wars 2

I was just kicked from this fractal supposedly because during the cannon assault, the way to avoid the strikes is to run in a group in a particular order, with the person who draws most agro behind everyone else, and I rejected this idea and the logic behind it.
I’m fractal level 36 and this is the first time I’ve every heard anything like this.
It is bulls**t right? I’ve always evaded the salvo easily enough just by, yknow, staying out of the red circles of death. As far as I’m aware there’s no pattern, and even if there were, you don’t need to learn what it is to avoid being hit. But in an exchange with the kicker I was told to go and find out on the internet, so here I am.

Well one way of dealing with the cannon salvoe is basically what you mentioned. The group balls into a tight knot and starts running together leaving the AoE fields constantly behind them. As can be imagined, this works best with a speedbuff and only if everyone is doing it. This is also the way usually used in solos if I am correct, where you don’t have to worry about anyone being left behind or dancing out of the group for whatever reason.

Another way that works more or less well is to disperse where everyone takes his little corner of the room far enough from each other so you mostly avoid overlapping AoE fields.

The downside of the first version is that you have to move coherently as a group and keep moving constantly. Sometimes this can’t be executed particularly well if the participants aren’t used tho that kind of coordination.

The downside of the second version is that sometimes a player is singled out and gets a lot more AoE fields than others and might run out of room/dodges to avoid the barrages. And once that one goes down, with one target less to choose from for the AoE barrage, the other 4 will get the additional incoming fire, which can quickly cascade into multiple defeated characters.

Both versions have their upside and downside. I’ve had groups that wouldn’t get the run done no matter what but used the disperse technique flawlessly and I’ve seen the disperse technique go horribly wrong as well.

But as you can well imagine, mixing those two variants is not a good idea. So your team will have to pick which one they are more familiar/comfortable with and everyone needs to go along. Otherwise things will almost inadvertedly go haywire.

If there is a third even more elegant way to deal with this I am unaware of it. Stealthing the entire group for example doesn’t work because that forces a reset of Mai Trin as far as I know.

Thanks for that.

One thing I don’t think you spoke to is whether, in the first version, there’s an order in which the party should run. In the group I was in I was berated for running at the front of the group. Then for the second attempt I stayed behind and got killed.

Personally I don’t see the need for either version. It’s just a case of dodging, running and staying still as required.
I also think the downside of the first version is pretty major, at least in a PUG group. The last thing you need is to have to concentrate on the strike rings and the direction you’re group is heading in. It just over-complicates things.

We totally need in-game voice to help co-ordinate this kind of encounter.

There is also the “easy” method with one person staying outside, but that’s boring as hell. Not sure if it’s an exploit since you give up one person to fight inside, but even if it isn’t, it’s extremely lame.

The easiest method I’ve learned is to…. NOT STAND IN THE RED CIRCLES.

There’s two main methods for dealing with the cannon barrage.

Method 1 is what the group you were in wanted to do. Everybody groups up, someone uses a speed buff, and they run in circles in a tight pack around the map. IF your group is coordinated and experienced, this is the best method. However, I find that what usually happens in PUGs is that eventually one guy fails to keep up (or one guy’s speed buff lasts longer than the others and he outruns the group), the cannon shots start becoming spread out, and eventually one guy gets hit, goes down, and the whole thing goes to skritt.

Method 2 is a much safer option, in my opinion. In this method, everybody splits up and goes to a different corner of the room. (5th guy stays in the center). Because each cannoneer shoots at a different target (1 guy will be safe during each wave of shots), the shots are quite spread out and you can easily side step the cannonballs. Dodge if you have to, but try to avoid going into another guy’s corner.

There’s also a Method 3 if you have two Thieves who can maintain perma-stealth on the party. In this method, one guy is the bait; he just runs in tight circles on one side of the arena, while everybody else goes to the other side and just hides in Shadow Refuge with the Thieves rotating. It’s important that one guy remains unstealthed, otherwise Mai will simply regen her health during the cannon phase. Of course, it goes without saying that the bait must be extremely experienced and capable of surviving; if he goes down and dies, it screws up the entire method.

bretfrag, they were idiots. Sorry for you to have experienced it but unfortunately we all take risks when we use the LFG.

Running around together in a circle is beneficial for the person/people in the front, terrible for the people in the back. It’s ideal to spread out as much as possible or to make use of stealth, provided at least one person is able to be targeted at all times to prevent Mai Trin from resetting.

Method 4: You’re being a scrub like me and don’t go through the cannon phase at all?

Just a thing:
if you stealth or go out, the people remaining in the area not stealthed will get even your aoes so will have a harder time.

Just stay each in a different spot far from Others so everyone gets less aoes and move the least you can.

Also you can unequip your berserker equipment for the fractal since mai doesn t have so many HP.

The longest parts are shield stripping and cannon phase, everything else is lightning fast even in soldier.

Ken DeBoer.9268:

The easiest method I’ve learned is to…. NOT STAND IN THE RED CIRCLES.

This guy knows.

The only thing that bugs me is that I argued in the group that the cannon strikes were random. It seems the consensus is that they aren’t. I suppose I would now qualify that, even if they’re not random, you can treat them as though they are i.e. just move to wherever there aren’t red circles and you’ll be fine. Sure, the first few times you do it, you’ll probably go down, but after a while it’s really pretty easy. I’d take Mai Trin over the Jade Monster any day.

Heard of “group up & run” way of dealing with this phase, but never actually saw it. A few times people mentioned something like “we should do it” and then just spread out as everyone usually does.

It might be a good way to handle the phase in case of a guild group or people being on TS or such, but not for a random group found through LFG – that will most probably cause a wipe and a mess after.

It should require a good reaction from everyone, non-lagging internet connection and people with brain who won’t move ahead and cause cannons to aim ahead of the rest of the party members.

Since you asked about the specific order to run. Acutally, there isn’t one. Ideally everyone runs on the same position, but we all know that this is even less realistic and likely than getting two precursors at once from the Karka Queen pop up chest.
And Purple Miku already pointed out the problem with the idea of a running order.

That aside, what acutally helps a lot as well in that phase if you use the disperse technique: Bowl of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bowl_of_Orrian_Truffle_and_Meat_Stew

Not the cheapest foodwise there is, but the increased endurance refill rate is really useful in that encounter.

99% of my runs in that fight have been spread out and run with the occasional overlap of two or three people. Only once have I done the group up and run.

Like ppl have said, method two requires close coordination and experience, luckily the group I was in had both so we blitzed it. For the remaining times, I prefer the spread out and run. Playing a warr, I always pack war banner to insta-res ppl. Annoyingly I usually fail with pugs in the lower levels than on the higher ones.

bretfrag.5607:

Ken DeBoer.9268:

The easiest method I’ve learned is to…. NOT STAND IN THE RED CIRCLES.

This guy knows.

The only thing that bugs me is that I argued in the group that the cannon strikes were random. It seems the consensus is that they aren’t. I suppose I would now qualify that, even if they’re not random, you can treat them as though they are i.e. just move to wherever there aren’t red circles and you’ll be fine. Sure, the first few times you do it, you’ll probably go down, but after a while it’s really pretty easy. I’d take Mai Trin over the Jade Monster any day.

Well, they’re not random, they’re targeted at group members. You could also stealth 4 people and have the 5th person run laps but they would end up with all the barrages. There are a few ways to do the cannon phases (as others have already described).

The thing with PuGs is, they’re idiots. Most of them have seen a video or two of a dungeon or fractal or PvP, etc… and they lack the skill to think critically about what they’ve seen. Instead they copy/paste that strategy and are unable to deviate from it. That’s half the reason you see so many idiotic stacking spots and strategies. The other half is laziness and unwillingness to try new things.

I prefer the spread out method. It’s more chilled imo. Yes, Mai is a better fractal to get at 50 than the maw imo. Maw is pretty gated and lengthy and just a lot more boring.

I saw a stream a week or so ago where it appeared the team was able to go back into the hallway and avoid all the barrages.

You mean to tell me that you guys don’t try to troll people in your group by staying near them and trying to get them killed?… that is the funnest part of the boss fight.

i though best method was to stand far away from each other and side step the cannon fire. No overlaping aoes and very easy to dodge

Big Jay.1479:

I saw a stream a week or so ago where it appeared the team was able to go back into the hallway and avoid all the barrages.

I do that all the time, too lazy.

Hmm interesting. Never heard of the running in a group thing. EVERY pug I’ve done on Mai Trin, we all just ran around the room, dodging red circles like chickens with our heads cut off. It’s never really been an issue before. I wouldn’t want to do a coordinated run in that manner though, seems like too much trouble and drama when you can easily dodge and avoid red circles without too much effort or thought.

pdavis.8031:

Hmm interesting. Never heard of the running in a group thing. EVERY pug I’ve done on Mai Trin, we all just ran around the room, dodging red circles like chickens with our heads cut off. It’s never really been an issue before. I wouldn’t want to do a coordinated run in that manner though, seems like too much trouble and drama when you can easily dodge and avoid red circles without too much effort or thought.

Group running takes more coordination. Next time you’re PuGing though, tell them to stop moving. Have each pick a corner and move very minimally and only to avoid circles. You would be surprised how much easier it is than just yoloswagmode.

Yeah, we’ve done that, and still hadn’t noticed much of a difference between “yoloswagmode” and standing still with small movements. Although the former does make it more interesting. :P

The only time we have issues during that phase is when people are trying to rez someone whose “yoloswag” wasn’t up to par, and they stood in the red circles. It usually causes a wipe as 3 players run to help the one downed.

Zaxares.5419:

There’s also a Method 3 if you have two Thieves who can maintain perma-stealth on the party. In this method, one guy is the bait; he just runs in tight circles on one side of the arena, while everybody else goes to the other side and just hides in Shadow Refuge with the Thieves rotating. It’s important that one guy remains unstealthed, otherwise Mai will simply regen her health during the cannon phase. Of course, it goes without saying that the bait must be extremely experienced and capable of surviving; if he goes down and dies, it screws up the entire method.

You can use 1 thief for perma stealth actually.

That method 3 puts a lot of strain on the bait though doesn’kitten I’m not entirely certain I would like to play that role if it ever came up.